A festival at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester aims to challenge negative perceptions of young people and allow their talent to shine through.

The Truth About Youth Festival is taking place at the theatre until 29 July, showcasing theatre, art, music, film, dance, cooking and workshops involving young people from across Greater Manchester.

Among the events are a series of six short plays, written, co-directed and performed by young people over three evenings - The Truth About Youth Shorts. Popcorn Premiers is an exclusive screening of quirky short films.

My Young And Foolish Heart brings together a group of teenagers and grandparents as they try to explain what life looks like from their perspective.

The festival will be happening in locations all over the Royal Exchange – including the studio, theatre and the great hall. In an attempt to engage members of the public, they will be taking a portable ballot box around the city centre asking people to submit responses to questions about young people.

It is the culmination of a £280,000 two-year project by the Royal Exchange, funded by the Co-operative Foundation. Around 1,000 teenagers, aged 14 to 19, have been involved in it.

Over the past two years, the theatre has run workshops and mentoring programmes with the young people to give them experience of leading and managing arts projects. The project's success means it is due to be funded for another year.

Festival producer Chris Wright said: "I don't think we do have the truth about youth and this festival is an opportunity for young people to express themselves to show us a side which I think we have a lot of misgivings about."

Anne Louise Kershaw is a freelance journalist and music editor of Blankpages and Manchester's Finest.